Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-november-3-2022
Luke 13:22-30
The Narrow Door
22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
Each time this reading comes up in the lectionary, my first instinct is to skip it and base our Reflection on one of the other readings for the day. It’s a little uncomfortable for those of us from the Reformed Protestant tradition, because it doesn’t fit neatly with our understanding of the nature of our salvation.
In the reading, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” I can’t help thinking that Jesus must have been saying things in his preaching that indicated that – that only a few people were going to be saved.
And the answer Jesus gives makes lots of readers nervous. He seems to be saying, “Yes, that’s right. Only a few people will be saved.”
And then Jesus goes on to say something else that adds to our discomfort. He says we should “make every effort to enter the narrow door.” And for those of us from the Reformed tradition, that doesn’t fit with our understanding of how salvation works.
Our theology teaches us that our salvation – our new life in Jesus – isn’t the result of any effort on our part, but rather is a gift out of the grace of God. So the idea of ‘making an effort to enter the narrow door’ strikes us as an example of “works righteousness,” – the belief that you earn your way into heaven by being good and doing good. And our tradition teaches us that works righteousness is a mistaken idea.
It’s probably true that in modern western culture, what Jesus says here bothers even those who don’t take Reformed theology seriously. That’s because we live in a culture that regards ‘inclusiveness’ as a virtue. And what Jesus says here makes the kingdom of God seem more exclusive than inclusive. So some people are bound to ask, ‘What’s up with that?’
But it seems to me that there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind.
First of all, it seems clear that most of those who heard Jesus speak never made a commitment to follow him. Jesus talked about people hearing him and not believing.
There were times when thousands of people showed up to hear Jesus preach and teach. But when Jesus went to the cross, he only had fifty or seventy-five committed disciples.
Several times in his teachings, Jesus makes the point that many (even most) of those who were exposed to his ministry and teachings would not make the commitment to follow him. Remember the Parable of the Sower, when some people who hear the word are like rocky soil or weed patches? Most people who are exposed to the word are too attached to the things of their old life to be willing to lay them down to take up the new life Jesus offers.
And he warned his disciples that the same thing would happen in their ministry – he told them when that happened, they should knock the dust of that place off their feet and move on.
Jesus seems to be warning people against thinking that because they heard him preach and teach and had some halfway friendly contact with him, they were going to inherit eternal life.
He closes this passage with a related warning. And in fact, this might have been the real point of what Jesus was saying. He tells his Jewish listeners that the fact that they were descended from the Hebrew patriarchs didn’t mean they were guaranteed a spot in the heavenly kingdom. Jesus says that people will come from all over, and be seated at the heavenly banquet ahead of the covenant people, even though they were the first to hear God’s word.
Lots of people tend to think that if your name is on the membership roll of a church, or if you’ve been baptized or said the ‘Believer’s Prayer,’ then you’re assured of a place in heaven. But the New Testament doesn’t let us off that easy. Our faith comes to us as a gift, but God seems to expect that those who really embrace it will show a transformed life. Just being a member of the church might be the modern equivalent of the ‘wide door’ in Jesus’ mind. Maybe the ‘narrow door’ involves a higher level of commitment to prayer and study and service in his name and growing in the things of the faith.
The New Testament makes it pretty clear that we can’t ‘save ourselves’ by doing a lot of religious activities, but this passage seems to ask us whether our lives are in any way distinct from those of people outside the faith, whether we’ve really responded to the call to live a more Christ-like life – a life that can allow us to enter God’s kingdom through that ‘narrow door.’
The Christian faith isn’t really a list of black-and-white rules you obey, or a checklist of things you have to do to ‘get into heaven.’ Got baptized. Said Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Joined a church. Check. Check. Check.
Instead, true disciples of Jesus live out their faith in a kind of tension. It’s a tension between receiving new life in Jesus is a gift out of God’s grace, and responding to a call to demonstrate our faith by living according to his commandments. There’s an old saying that followers of Jesus should “Pray like it all depends on God, but work like it all depends on us.” Maybe that’s not a bad way to express that tension – a fair stab at reconciling the gift of grace and the call to discipleship that show up in this passage.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the new lives you’ve given us as followers of your Son Jesus. Protect us from thinking that if we maintain our membership in the church and show up for worship once in a while that he will claim us as his own. By your Spirit, move us to lives of genuine discipleship, learning and growing in faith and service. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 16 and 62; Zephaniah 3:1-7; and Revelation 16:12-21. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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